I've been doing software development for 20 years. I have always wanted to create an API-based product. 2 years ago, I learned about micro-saas and no-code/low-code platforms, and I thought it would be great to create something simple for developers to generate content.
Through market research, I felt there was a demand for PDF and image generation. In addition, I have to use these for some of my clients as well.
We spent two months building an MVP, and the first version only supported PDF generation. A few weeks later, we added image generation and some other features(Mostly requested by the users).
MicroFounder
How did you find your first customers?
Jacky
We started SEO fairly early, and our first customer found us on Google even before we officially launch the product.
When we decided to build the product, we created a few SEO-optimized pages while building the product. Google indexed us when we launched the product(3 months later) and we ranked on the first page for a few keywords, which brought us good traffic.
MicroFounder
How are you finding your customers today?
Jacky
Still SEO, we are consistently posting new articles monthly with targeted keywords. We used to write our articles, which took time. Now we outsource most of them to freelancers.
One of the channels is word-of-mouth. The no-code/low-code developers experienced with our platform help to introduce our product to their customers.
We did buy Google Ads for a month, but it didn't work out well for us. We would try again with some optimization.
MicroFounder
What's your advice for other microfounders who want to get started?
Jacky
Do not spend time building features that don't work. Ideally, build your MVP in 3-4 months and validate the idea as soon as possible, do not be afraid to get your half-baked product out to the market. The most important thing is to collect the requirements and feedback. They help you iterate fast.
Furthermore, marketing is important. Experiment with different methods, find the one that works for you and double up your investment quickly.
If you do not know which market to target - either B2B or B2C - always go for B2B products. Businesses are willing to pay if they find your product useful. Customers of B2C are price sensitive and it's harder to make $(But it's not impossible)
